1997 United Parcel Service strike
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Overview
Led by Ron Carey, the August 4 1997 United Parcel Service strike involved over 185,000 teamsters. [1] The strike effectively shut down UPS operations for 16 days. [2]
Causes
In the 1970's, UPS began a process of replacing many full time workers with part time employees.[3] In the 1980's, the wages of these part time workers was cut to just $8 per hour. [4] At this time, almost two in three workers were classified as part time, and receiving part time compensation and benefits, despite technically working full time hours. Surveys conducted by Teamster leaders stated that “90 percent of part-timers at UPS ranked the creation of more full-time jobs with full-time pay as a top bargaining priority.”[5] Teamster Laura Piscotti was quoted as saying: "These companies all have a formula. They don’t take you on full-time. They don’t pay benefits. Then their profits go through the roof." [6] In addition to the poor compensation, UPS’s warehousing and distribution centers, known as "hubs", were well known for their brutal working conditions, in which workers were pushed to their very limits. [7] Because of this, working conditions became dangerous, giving UPS one of the highest injury ratings in the industry. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a $3 million fine to UPS in direct recognition of the unsafe working conditions and frequent injuries.[8] The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites the 1993 UPS injury rate as 14%, compared with the industry average 8%. [9]
The Strike
It is widely believed that UPS bosses, reporters and the general public simply didn't expect that workers would actually carry out the strike. An August 1997 Teamster rally had a poor turn out, and a UPS spokesperson said “They’re trying to stage a Broadway production of Les Miserables, and what we’re seeing is a high school production of Annie Get Your Gun”. [10]
One witness describes the shock felt as the strike was announced to the press: A baffled reporter asked, “What’s going to happen?” Carey looked at him with an incredulous look on his face and said, “We’re not working tomorrow.” [11]
- ^ Greenhouse, Steven. "Yearlong Effort Key to Success For Teamsters." New York Times. August 25, 1997.
- ^ "It's official: Teamsters end UPS strike". CNN. August 20, 1997. Retrieved 2013-12-04
- ^ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/united-parcel-service-inc-history/
- ^ http://isreview.org/issues/55/bigbrown.shtml
- ^ “Half a job is not enough: How the shift to more part-time employment undermines good jobs at UPS,” International Brotherhood of Teamsters research department, June 1997, ii.)
- ^ —Laura Piscotti, striking Teamster, Chicago, August 6, 199728
- ^ Dan La Botz, Rank and File Rebellion, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (London/New York: Verso, 1990), see chap. 15, “UPS: The totalitarian workplace.
- ^ Christopher Drew, “In the productivity push, how much is too much?” New York Times, December 17, 1995
- ^ P. Orris, D. E. Hartman, P. Strauss, et al., “Stress among package truck drivers,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1997, 31 (2) 202–210.
- ^ “UPS’s early missteps in assessing Teamsters help explain how union won gains in fight,” Wall Street Journal, August 21, 1997.
- ^ http://isreview.org/issues/55/bigbrown.shtml